Page 25 of Monsters

“Yes.”

“Long gone, I would say,” he confirmed.

The downpour of rain intensified and we all turned to watch it pelting against the windows.

“I think we’re stuck here for a while,” Lucas admitted. “We may not make it to the cave, so we may as well stay here.”

“Agreed,” Mason said, carelessly dropping the frame on the bedside table. When he walked to the kitchen, I returned the photo back to its rightful place on the wall.

“I still feel like we’re doing something wrong.”

“That’s because you never do anything wrong,” Mason quipped while digging through the small pantry cupboards. I took pride in myself by following the rules, but Mason was determined to mock wherever he could.

The brothers dropped their backpacks into the center of the room and continued their rummaging. It was evident nothing I said would change their minds about staying here, and with the weather only intensifying, it didn’t make sense to keep trekking to the cave. Dropping my pack with theirs, I realized this was a case of if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

~

It took a while to get the fire started. The wood that had been chopped however long ago was slightly damp, and wouldn’t catch straightaway. But the boys weren’t deterred and soon we had the fireplace burning at full force. We all fell into our own duties, having silently proclaimed the cabin as ours. While the brothers bantered back and forth about the fire, I set about dusting the furniture and sweeping the floors. Stripping the sheets off the mattress, I spread out a folded blanket I’d found in the cupboard that had mostly avoided the dust and layered our sleeping bags over the top. After a good hour and a half, the three of us stood back and observed our completely transformed cabin with pride.

“This could be the start of something great!” Mason smiled.

“A home away from home.”

Instead of adding my own sentiments, I turned and watched the brothers closely. My heart broke for them both. I could understand why finding this place had felt like striking gold. It would be the same for anyone whose home life had entered into as much turmoil as theirs had.

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